Online Mentorship and Courses in Yoga Anatomy
Join Yoga Anatomy Academy founder and physical therapist, Dr. Ariele Foster, for an experiential anatomy-based yoga therapeutics workshop to re-imagine your relationship with your spine. Enjoy a spectrum of poses, modified for their therapeutic qualities, that shine light into: the 8 movements of the spine, how to assure active (not passive) spinal movement in your […]
Francesca Cervero kindly invited me to be a return guest on her podcast, The Mentor Sessions: Support and Strategy for Yoga Teachers to talk about HIPS, specifically yoga hip injuries. (If you missed the first episode on anatomy-informed yoga, you can listen here). Francesca and I both experienced major hip injuries, as in the […]
Teaching anatomy for yoga practitioners is about much more than relaying the nuts and bolts (muscles and bones). In order to understand anatomy in the context of the vastness of yoga, we must understand how yoga, yoga classes, and yoga teaching influence bodies and fit in to a larger conversation about the intersection of yoga […]
In case you haven’t noticed, yoga is undergoing a revolution. This revolution is a natural ricochet from dominant paradigms of physical asana practice that have included: 1) overly prescriptive alignment and/or 2) lack of alignment plus excess repetition, but that 3) in nearly all cases discouraged critical thinking, deviation from your teacher, and incorporating modern […]
One of the first principles of teaching anatomically sound asana is this: Any yoga pose can harm; Any yoga pose can heal. For example, Tadasana (Mountain Pose) can reinforce poor postural habits, or it can build strength. Headstand is likely to cause excess pressure on cervical vertebrae, but may also be a skillful way to […]
Want this sequence in a pretty, printable 1-page PDF? Click here for access. One of the loveliest of yoga poses is Naginyasana, Mermaid pose. It’s a variation of the ever-popular “Pigeon Pose” (eka pada raja kapotasana), so Naginyasana involves deep backbending and front hip opening. Although it is challenging, it’s fairly accessible. With the right preparation […]
There is a conversation ruffling the feathers of the yoga world around the lack of “pulling” in yoga asana. In some instances, this topic gets mixed with talk of lack of “posterior chain” muscle utilization. Is this true? Can our beloved yoga asana be incomplete? Before diving any further, a huge assumption must be dismantled: If you look to yoga asana for […]
This is our first post, and we are excited to help you Learn Yoga Anatomy! What are your burning questions about yoga anatomy? What do you want us to answer about yoga anatomy? You can ask about anything from the nose to the toes, including joints, muscles, bone structure, variations, physiology (cellular level), yoga therapeutics or yoga for […]